Writing answers, band by band

How to read these

Every prompt below carries three answers written to illustrate three different performance levels. The lower two are deliberately imperfect: the band 6.5 answers contain the repetition, bolted-on linking words and small grammar slips that a real answer at that level contains, and each one is annotated so you can see exactly which sentence gives it away. Under each answer there is commentary on all four assessment areas — how fully the task is answered, how the ideas are organised and connected, how precise the vocabulary is, and how varied and accurate the grammar is.

Band 6.5

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

Band 7.5

A clearly better answer. The position is consistent, paragraphs are properly built, vocabulary is more precise and errors are occasional rather than habitual — but development is uneven and some phrasing is still ordinary.

Band 9

Fully developed, effortlessly organised and precisely worded. Cohesion is invisible, the vocabulary choices are the natural ones a fluent writer would reach for, and grammar is varied and essentially accurate.

These are illustrative answers written for teaching, not official material. The prompts are original and written in the standard format; they are not reproduced from any past paper, and nothing here has been marked by a test provider. Band labels describe what the writing demonstrates — no sample, and no piece of practice, can guarantee anyone a score.